[Comments] Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

[Fillyjonk]

August Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again... This month, we flip to Book2Screen to rediscover (or meet for the first time) a classic piece of Gothic literature with all the necessary trappings. Spooky mansion riddled with locked doors and secrets? Check. Broody hero haunted by his past? Check. Damsel in distress? Super-check. Bad dreams, bad weather, bad servants? Checkitty-check-check-check. Published in 1938, du Maurier's tale of love and horror sold almost 3 million copies in its first decade. It's been adapted multiple times for radio and stage and at least 15 times for the screen, most notably and Oscar-Winnerly by Hitchcock, most recently and floppily by Netflix. This is a fast fun read, perfect for the blistering dog days ahead, and we can debate, is it a CLASSIC or TRASH or CLASSIC TRASH. It's also in the public domain, which means you can read it for free online or download a PDF. Have you read it before? Seen an adaptation? I've probably read it 20 times btu the only adaption I remember (vaguely) is the Carol Burnett satire...

[Dworin]

Well, my first discovery for this is that Daphne Du Maurier was not French as I had always assumed, purely going by her name. But I already downloaded the French version so I shall persevere with that.

[Fillyjonk]

I am jealous. I am SUCH a dedicated monolinguist. I took Latin, German, and Spanish and never became remotely fluentish in any. I wish I could read novels in other languages. Does it shape how you think or react to the book in a way you can parse or define?

[Admin Dirk]

This is a classic.

good choice.

[lostcheerio]

I'm interested in the parallels with Jane Eyre. I haven't read the book in forever, so I am going to give it a go!

Just recently watched the Netflix version and did love Kristin Scott Thomas' version of Mrs. Danvers.

Discussion question: Who's the best character in the book? And why is it Mrs. Danvers?

[Dworin]

Originally Posted by Fillyjonk

I am jealous. I am SUCH a dedicated monolinguist. I took Latin, German, and Spanish and never became remotely fluentish in any. I wish I could read novels in other languages. Does it shape how you think or react to the book in a way you can parse or define?

I don't think it shapes how I read the book. Just now in the train managed to make a start with Chapitre 1. And now I know it's a translation I'm trying to second guess what's the phrasing in the original. But once I get into the story that stops (hopefully).

Yes, you can read novels with just high school level. I consistently got failing marks for French in school. Started Proust's recherche and just read even tgough I felt I was zoned out (maybe you're mea t to be?) and was surprised to realise how many details I managed to get. Just grab something not too ambitious (count of monte cristo?) and give it a go. Oh, install a dictionary on your phone to look up individual words but try to guess first. I'll never forget reading Graham Greene as teen and being so proud I figured out that concrete wasn't antonym to abstract but a building material. Without dictionary! (some people are just easily pleased)

[Fillyjonk]

OKAY — I am now about 30% of the way in. I had forgotten SO much. The DOG, Jasper, and how he is so dear and good and the main source of warmth in this chilly book. The writing. It’s great. Her life NOW, and how much she intrudes to remind us this is flashback.

Maxim is a little gross to me in a new way. She is 21, he is 42. My daughter is 21 and my closest male friend and his wife are 44.

I don’t love that BUT WE ARE ALL SAFE NOW energy. It feels flattening to me. Anyone else? I also don’t love how HARD Nameless Narrator is on her 21 year old self. I also find the WE DO NOT KNOW HER NAME to be kinda precious—because she calls attention to it, saying that the dad named her, that it is an unusual name, etc. I think she is referencing THE YELLOW WALLPAPER and for sure Jane Eyre and that makes me wonder if Maxim didn’t skeeve her out a little, too. Their life in her middle age and his dotage is not..super. Very melancholy. A little CALL OF CTHULU tbh. “We survived BUT AT WHAT COST.” How strange that people find this book Romantic.

The MOOD of this book is so fine, so so so so well done. I had forgotten how good she is at casting shade, and how class is such a factor. The writing is just awesome. Her dialogue, awesome. THE SETTING IS SO AWESOME.

[lostcheerio]

And it could have been avoided if we didn't know if *he* lived.

[writelite]

...I only saw the Hitchcock - does it count? Maybe I could point out a few things that impressed me and someone can back up with the book : )

An answer to Fillyjonk, but meant for everyone's eyes:

 

One memorable scene is that when they got married. It seemed out of the world, free from everything that would hinder their happiness, past or future. The ending, as the beginning - with that haunting remembering of Manderley, does not seem to leave room for such happiness to be ever again experienced, except, perhaps, in the rare, accidental, moments when they forget about themselves and life. I see your point here, about the "cost"... But, still, the story is romantic - as far as romance was possible in their lives: Love was pure in her, and so was in him - under that great, dark shadow. And throughout the story, it manages to shine through their troubled relationship and selves. I think this is an easily missed theme, especially in the movie - with all that focus on dangers.

Rebecca's light was midsummer midday - grand, as all things about her. But it was not love's light. A glitter, only, that blinded, hiding the unquenchable thirst of a self greater than life and all in it. The one scene that portrayed this majestically was that where the narrator character was let into her room, with the large bed, large window, and in the distance - that sea, ever in turmoil. People can get lost in the world and their dark sides like that, and make life a hell for themselves and everyone else; or take part in a society accepted form of madness...

It was the weaker but true light of pure love - like a morning's (and I believe that the age difference could well be just a metaphor) - that renewed Maxim's hope in life. A thin ray, or thread that they both held on to - along with the viewer (or reader) following the developments. It was romantic, the story, because we are asked to believe in love, with the characters, even though there is no room for niceties and for daydreaming - or relief, really, at the end. Still, some may call it romantic also for the rich setting - the castle and Maxim's situation - which can place a story out of the ordinary, at least at the surface. Of course, the movie tore down any luster such rare conditions can add to a love-meant relationship. It felt more like a background, the story, against which we can project our own perception of things. And the bitter-sour taste that joins the sweet was more like a reminder - than the different experience we can only find in a fairy-tale...

...Surprised to hear about the dog's importance in the narrative. Such a companion is usually the symbol of innocence for growing up teenagers. Perhaps it was meant as a reminder of Maxim's unaltered state... something innocent from his past that the narrator character can connect with, amidst all the burdens. But it seems an odd choice, given Maxim's story age... If the author (I assume - it's most probably true for Hitchcock) did not want to keep happiness locked away in that singular past moment of the wedding, perhaps a few young people - which Maxim knew since children - would have made for more appropriate reminders, passing by Manderley now and then - until the drama grew too dense...

[lostcheerio]

Writelite, your list of active games is really amazing. Have you thought of making an index post, and linking to that in your signature, with links to the various things you're maintaining? I found the first one but couldn't find the "Selected Threads" for example.

[writelite]

(whispering at the back of the room: )

 

That is a great idea, lostcheerio. I just don't know where would such a post fit... A thread just for such posts - where everyone can have one - would be nice. Perhaps someone with longer standing at RPGX could write about it in Questions and Site Discussion? In the meantime, the things I maintain are more about the site, you know - adding my little bit to the Admins' silent effort. And that's another aspect of having an enumeration in the signature, instead of just a link: It sends people directly to what they might have an interest in, instead of writelite's stuff (or something more to the point, but about writelite first)...

About the Selected Threads: It apparently reached page 4 of the General Discussion Forums. I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out! Updated the signature. And here is the link.

[lostcheerio]

It's not my idea, really. An expanded signature, where you link to a post that has more content and links than will fit in the character limit of your signature, is credited to... some username I have forgotten. It was a thing in the scavengers hunt a couple years ago. You can tuck the post anywhere. If you have a game going, stick it in a thread there. The important thing is that it links out to multiple places. And you could keep exactly the text you have, but with one link, to the post you've created that links out.

If you don't have a game going, you can stick it in one of my folders.

[writelite]

(a moment of silence... then more whispering at the back of the room -- but soon after noise breaks out all around, as - apparently - it was time for refreshments, and the whisperers joined the tumultuous chorus: )

How generous of you! Here is some content, and maybe you can find a proper place for it:

writelite's bookmark Site Maps - Ongoing RPGX Games - General Discussion: Selected Threads - Gaming Advice: Organized Index - Questions and Site Discussions: Organized Index

[lostcheerio]

@writelite

I made a folder called Interesting Indices. Here's a link to it. You're welcome to create a thread in that folder, and keep all your lists there in separate posts (or the same post), or you can just put the above list of links there, if you want to keep maintaining them in different forums. Then you can just link to that thread i your sig file, and not have to mess around with the page numbers. You could create different threads for each of your lists, or you could just make them posts in the same thread, with a TOC as the first post, and link to the TOC.

I think the "Ongoing Games" is particularly useful and also the most difficult to maintain! And I salute you for doing that! Maybe you could put in your sig file that someone should message you if they start or end a game, to help you keep track, if that's your goal.

[writelite]

So nice, so very nice of you, lostcheerio . I could not easily make up my mind about which folder my non-playing thread matches... Going to make that thread next, first thing! / Pages, yes... they're not really needed now, are they? Even though... they still would allow the reader to skip my links and find, all on their own, those threads - if they want to. Have to come up with a more suitable sig now! / ...Salute?! Oh - overwhelmed! I feel... I should get back to updating that list more often. But... like you said, it does take a few hours each time... / Help me keep track? Well... wouldn't bother them. Some might not like this much attention, you know... And besides, I would still need to check if a thread does keep going, or is back on. / So, so thoughtful of you to share some of this management burden. And it does make a difference to know that one's gift, although modest, found use with someone.